SES Recruitment FAQs + Tips by Victoria Knight

vknight15 — 2023-01-13 10:58:14 UTC

Welcome to Recruitment volunteers! Here we're going to discuss the most frequently asked questions volunteers have preparing for shortlisting, task coordination, and interviews.

If you have a question that hasn't been answered in this padlet, please email the SES Business Support team at:
SESBusinessSupport@leeds.ac.uk, or message them in your dedicated MS Teams chat.

Q. Where should I report issues during the interviews/tasks e.g. candidate cannot connect, emailed task back late?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 11:51:46 UTC

If a candidate emails a task back late, you can make a note of this on the Total Score Sheet.
If there are any technical issues please post this in the dedicated Recruitment MS Teams chat or email SESBusinessSupport@leeds.ac.uk, so a member of the team can respond. We would suggest that if the interview of the candidate is affected, allow some additional time for them to complete the interview.

Interview tips

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 11:55:07 UTC

As part of the recruitment process, we interview all candidates via Microsoft Teams. In this section, we'll be going through our tips to help you effectively prepare for the interviews.

Q. Do candidates know who will be interviewing them?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 11:58:08 UTC

Yes, in the MS Teams invite candidates can see the full names of the panel members who will be interviewing the candidates.

Q. What should I do if I don’t have enough time to write feedback for each response in the interview?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 12:15:00 UTC

You won’t have time to write very detailed comments, so try to write an overview of the examples they provide and some of the key statements from their answers.
Please also make sure all feedback is suitable to be shared with candidates, as the team may need to send this.

Q. What should I do if a candidate provides an answer which relates to a competency for another question?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 12:18:20 UTC

In this scenario, you can take that response as an answer to the other question and there’s no need to ask a follow-up question.

Q. What should I do if a candidate says their notice period is “negotiable”, but isn’t certain of an exact period?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 12:23:30 UTC

In this case, you can put down their notice down as “one month-negotiable" so we know what the maximum amount of time their notice period is.

Q. What do I do if a candidate runs over the allocated interview time?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 12:34:30 UTC

In this situation, try to keep the interview to 45 minutes, and remind candidates that we must stick to this timeframe. If nothing can be done and an interview runs over, drop a message into the dedicated Recruitment Teams chat, to let the team know. We can then contact the other candidates to let them know you’re running a little behind schedule.

Q. What should I do if a candidate wants specific information about a role they’re interested in?

vknight15 — 2023-01-16 12:37:26 UTC

The role sheets are working documents, so the role information is subject to changes all the time up until role-matching. We recommend that you describe the functional area e.g. assessment, and length of the role e.g. ongoing/fixed term.
Please make sure to list any preferences the candidate states for functional areas on the total score sheet. This helps us in the Role-matching meeting.

Q. Does the panel chair ask all the questions at interview, or do we take it in turns?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:10:12 UTC

The panel chair doesn’t have to ask all the questions during the interview, the chair and panel member can take it in turns to ask questions as long as each are listening and taking notes during the interview.

Do candidates that come for the interview get a job description beforehand?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:12:16 UTC

Yes, candidates have access to the Job Description (Candidate Brief) included in the Job Advert when they apply for the role.

Q. What do I do if my scores for a candidate are very different to my colleagues scores (>1)?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:19:43 UTC

In this scenario, you will have to discuss with your colleague the reasons behind your differences in scores and try to work together to find a common ground in scores to come to an agreement to ensure whether a candidate is appointable. The Recruitment Lead and HR Officer will drop in to check scoring and offer advice.

Q. What should I do after I finish scoring my candidates?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:23:15 UTC

You should complete the Total Score sheet for your panel. Your scores will feed through into the main scoring spreadsheet where candidates will be ordered in descending order.
The interview notes should also be uploaded to the dedicated interview notes folder for your recruitment centre.

Q. Do interview notes need to be in a specific format before adding them to the interview folder?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:36:04 UTC

No, the interview notes can be typed up or scanned and added. As long as we have a record of the interview notes. It will be split into Panel 1, 2, 3 so you can drop the notes into each section.
It is useful to download the interview scoring sheet template as it has a section with development comments. This is useful for the Business Support Team to relay any feedback to candidates.

Q. Do I need to check my scores with my fellow panel members after interview?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:43:18 UTC

Yes, you will have a post-panel meeting where your panel, alongside a HR Officer and the Recruitment Lead will discuss and review your scores. This gives you an opportunity to decide on whether candidates are appointable or not.

Q. When a candidate has been appointed to a role, who contacts them?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:46:50 UTC

After a successful candidate has been chosen, the Business Support team will send the hiring manager an email with all the information about the successful candidate. The hiring manager will then contact the candidate themselves to offer the role.

Who gives candidates feedback if they’ve been unsuccessful?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:53:18 UTC

The Business Support Team will contact the Panel Chair directly with a feedback template. The Chair is then responsible for collating and distributing feedback directly to the candidate. We are also responsible for emailing unsuccessful candidates.

Q. Do we need interview answers to be structured in the STAR method?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 13:55:12 UTC

It’s not required, but we do recommend looking for the STAR method in interview answers and encourage this in candidate feedback. It helps the candidate to structure and communicate their answer effectively.

Q. How do we match candidates to roles?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 14:17:35 UTC

We have a number of role-matching principles which we discuss at the beginning of the meeting including candidate preferences, full or part-time roles, and priority roles. The Recruitment Lead refers to these principles throughout the role-matching meeting in order to make an informed decision.

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 14:28:17 UTC

Thank you for taking the time to read through our Recruitment Volunteer FAQ and Tips guide!
If you have any more questions, queries or can think of any improvements we can make, please feel free to email the Business Support Team at:
SESBusinessSupport@leeds.ac.uk

Q. Will all of the interview panel be present at the role-matching meeting?

vknight15 — 2023-01-18 14:35:03 UTC

No, only the Panel Chairs attend the role-matching meeting; along with a HR Officer, Recruitment lead and SES Business Support.

vknight15 — 2023-01-24 15:49:35 UTC

Book out some time in your Outlook calendar to ensure you can dedicate enough time to shortlist.

vknight15 — 2023-01-24 16:01:34 UTC

Read the shortlisting section in the Stonefish guide to become familiar with the system and to understand the scoring process (P10 - Stonefish guide).

vknight15 — 2023-01-24 16:03:06 UTC

If a candidate does not meet the criteria listed at all then you can give a score of 0, this means that you will not need to score the rest of the application, as the candidate has failed to meet a key competency.

vknight15 — 2023-01-24 16:04:21 UTC

Once you have finished scoring, please meet with your fellow shortlister to sense-check the top 3 and bottom 3 candidates based on your scores. Please also discuss any candidates where the difference between your scores is greater than 1.

vknight15 — 2023-01-24 16:05:35 UTC

If you are both satisfied with your scores, please click the complete button and HR will confirm the shortlist.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 13:41:46 UTC

It is useful to create draft emails the day before you are due to email tasks to candidates. You can schedule emails to be sent at specific times.There is a template email and task sheet to send to candidates in your dedicated Recruitment folder.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 13:47:14 UTC

Once you have finished scoring, please meet with your fellow task-coordinator to sense-check your top 3 and bottom 3 candidates based on your scores. You can share your screen and the candidate task response to check you agree on the score given.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 13:48:41 UTC

Make sure to double-check the Recruitment Schedule for task coordination times and email addresses so you can ensure you have the right details for each candidate.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 14:25:09 UTC

You will have a pre-panel meeting with your fellow panel member before the interviews so you have time to get to know each other. You can discuss length of service at the university, current job role and what they hope to gain from the experience. You can also use this time to organise how you wish to carry out the interview e.g. who will ask what questions.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:08:38 UTC

Before the interviews, make sure to download the interview questions beforehand and save with each candidate’s last name so you have your template ready.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:10:09 UTC

Read through the interview script and highlight the sections which you will be asking to make things easier.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:32:15 UTC

Try to make notes of exactly what the candidate says in the interview, then highlight the positive and negative indicators afterwards. This will help you to provide the candidate with a score. It is also easier to score candidates after all interviews, as you may think a candidate scores 5/5 whereas a later candidate gives a much stronger answer which makes you rethink your previous score.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:33:22 UTC

Make sure to ask an icebreaker question to ease the candidate into the interview e.g. What drew you to role X? Why do you want to work at the University of Leeds? This helps the candidate feel more comfortable so you can get the best out of them.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:34:18 UTC

Make sure to keep hydrated and take a screen break between interviews.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:35:27 UTC

Post the questions in the chat as one person speaks so the candidate can refer back to the question in the chat. This also aids accessibility. You can also repeat the question if the candidate asks you to do so.

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 15:36:21 UTC

Look out for the use of STAR in candidate responses- https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/star-technique. It is not essential for the candidate to use but could be useful to assess their performance as it provides a clear structure to their answer. You can recommend that they use this in the future in feedback if you thought they could have gone into more detail and explained the situation in a clearer, more structured way.

Task coordination

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 16:19:39 UTC

As part of the recruitment process, you may have to coordinate and mark a task for candidates. In this section, we discuss our top tips to help you successfully coordinate and mark a task.

Shortlisting

vknight15 — 2023-01-25 16:26:26 UTC

As part of the recruitment process, we use Stonefish to shortlist candidates to interview. In this guide, we give you our tips to ensure the shortlisting process is as easy as possible.

Interview FAQs

vknight15 — 2023-01-26 10:12:34 UTC

In this section, we'll be answering frequently asked questions to do with the interview process.

Q. How do we know if a candidate is appointable or not?

caguest1 — 2023-01-31 18:56:05 UTC

The total score sheet will calculate whether someone is appointable or not (yes, appointable >65%; not appointable <64%).
A good rule of thumb is whether you would be happy for the candidate to join your team.

caguest1 — 2023-02-07 10:44:20 UTC

In this section, we'll be answering frequently asked questions about the role-matching meeting.